Spiral actuated,adjustable jaw end wrench

ABSTRACT

An adjustable jaw end wrench in which an adjustable jaw is operated by a worm gear, the worm gear is operated by a spiral groove drive, the spiral groove drive is operated by a circular cam riding in the spiral groove drive, and in which a thumb actuated button is rotatably connected to the cam and the button is mounted for reciprocating movement, whereby the movable jaw is opened and closed.

United States Patent Vardaman July 4, 1972 54| SPIRAL ACTUATED, ADJUSTABLE 2,447,094 8/1948 Schlote ..8l/l30 R x JAW END WRENCH 3,555,939 l/I97l ,Halls ..8l/l72 X I Invent)?! Hunter W. Vardaman, Huntsville, Ala. Primary ExaminerJames L. Jones, Jr. [73] Assignee: Mekatron Corporation AHOmey C' Humps [22] Filed: Feb. 4, 1971 ABSTRACT 21 APPL 2 33 An adjustable jaw end wrench in which an adjustable jaw is operated by a worm gear, the worm gear is operated by a spiral groove drive, the spiral groove drive is operated by a cir- [52] U.S.Cl ..8l/l65,81/172 cular cam riding in the spiral groove drive, and in which a Cl t t ..B25 13/ 16 thumb actuated button is rotatably connected to the cam and [58] Field of Search ..8l/ 165, 172, 130 R the button is mounted for reciprocating movement, whereby the movable jaw is opened and closed. [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 2,753,748 7/1956 Schlote ..81/165 PATENTEDJUH m2 Hunter W. Vordomon,

INVENTOR ATTORNEY.

1 SPIRAL ACTUATEI), ADJUSTABLE JAW END WRENCH BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE that is wrenches in which the worm gear of the wrench is driven by a spiral actuator, no such wrench is known by the Applicant to ever have been made generally available to the purchasing public. By way of background the Applicant cites the following patents asbeing perhaps the most pertinent to the present invention: Davidson U.S. Pat. No. 703,898 Wilson U.S. Pat. No. 1,306,020 Schlote U.S. Pat. No. 1,354,782 Schlote U.S. Pat. No. 1,739,182 Schlote U.S. Pat. No. 2,993,398 Schlote U.S Pat. No. 2,795,987 Schlote U.S. Pat. No. 3,125,91 1. These patents indicate substantial efforts toward the perfection of what is an obviously improved type of adjustable end wrench, a wrench in which the jaws may be adjusted by rectilinear thumb operation without removing ones hand from the handle of the wrench. While the Applicant does not state that any particular deficiency of heretofore wrench designs was necessarily responsible for their apparent lack of success, the Applicant has, he believes, determined an improvement which he believes provides a wrench which can be rapidly and almost effortlessly adjusted, and an improvement which enables these characteristics to be maintained under conditions typically encountered for a useful life equal to that typically expected of an adjustable wrench. It is perhaps with respect to the matter of continued serviceability under typical workshop conditions that has in the past created the principal problems with spiral actuated wrench designs in that typically after arelatively short period, grime, dirt andother foreign matter will collect in the spiral groove tlley employ and the g tliur nb. actuated shank oi camis unable t freelyslid'e in the 1 L groove and the wrench will jam.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide an adjustable jaw wrench having a spiral actuated drive in which the likelihood of jammed operation due to foreign matter in the groove of the spiral drive is substantially reduced.

A further object of this invention is to provide an adjustable jaw wrench having an improved jaw adjusting mechanism, which may be economically manufactured.

These objects are accomplished by the construction of a wrench of the character described in which the spiral actuator is in the form of a shaft having a helical groove and is driven by a circular cam extending axially into the groove. The cam is in turn rotatably connected to a thumb operated button. In this fashion a sliding connection between the cam and helical groove is not relied upon for operation, which has typically been the case in the past, in that the cam may slide or rotate with respect to the groove of the helical shaft. Thus in the event that particles of dirt or corrosion provide an irregular grooved surface, which is frequently the case, the cam will rotate rather than slide and operation will not be impeded.

The objects, features and advantages of this invention will become more apparent from the following description when considered together with the drawings.

DRAWINGS 3-3 of FIG. 1 illustrating the construction of the rotatable cam drive of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 4- 4 of FIG. 2 illustrating the rear bushing for the shaft of the spiral drive of the wrench;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2 illustrating the movable jaw mounting and worm gear drive of the wrench;

FIG. 6 is a cut away drive; I

FIG. 7 is a cut away view, partly in section, of a modification of the cam drive shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 8 is a cut away view, partly in section, of still another modification of a cam drive system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIGS. l-6 of the drawings, the wrench is generally designated 10 and includes an elongated handle 12 and head 14, which is an integral extension of one end of handle l2. Handle 12 includes an elongated channel 16 extending from head 14 to a point 18 approximately half way of handle 12. Channel 16 opens to one side 20 of handle 12, through which is installed helical drive assembly 22. Head 14 includes an opening 24 through which worm gear assembly 26 is installed and includes'a groove '28 which communicates with opening 24 in which adjustable jaw 29 slides and is driven through rack 30 by worm 31. Fixed jaw 32 of head 14 complemerits adjustable jaw 29 to achieve an adjustable dimension gripping surface.

Worm gear assembly 26 includes a pinion gear 34 rigidly atview, partly in section, of the wonn gear tached at one end and through which worm 31 is rotated by pinion gear 36, rigidly attached to end 38 of helical shaft 40.. Worm gear assembly 26 is rotatably held in position at one end by a pin 42 supported in bearing 44 of head 14 and is axially biased under spring tension in one direction by spring 46. Worm'gear assembly 26 is held in position at the other end by means of an annular nut 48 which has an opening 50 which provides abearing surface for an end shaft region 52 of worm gear assembly 26.

Helical drive assembly 22 includes" substantially identical end bearings 54 (FIG; 4) and 56 supported by top plate 58 which in turn is attached to handle 12 by means of a locking slot (not shown) at one end 60 and by locking bolt 62 at the other end. Top plate 58has an elongated slot 64 extending substantially the length of helical shaft 40. Helical shaft 40 has a helical groove 65 which is engaged by button assembly 66.

Button assembly 66 provides means of rotating helical shaft 40 by rectilinear thumb movement of button 68 along the longitudinal dimension of handle 12 for a distance substantially corresponding to the length of helical shaft 40. The rotation of shaft 40 rotates pinion gear 36, pinion gear 34, worm 31 and thus movement of adjustable jaw 29 through rack 30. Button assembly 66 includes a shank member 70 which extends through slot 64, connecting at an outer end to button 68 and at an inner end to circular cam 72. The connection at the inner end is by means of a collar 74 affixed to the end of shank 70 and held by annular slot 76 formed in cam 72 and secured in place by locking annular bolt 78. In this fashion cam 72 is free to rotate and travel on the side walls 80 of helical groove 65 of helical shaft 40 in response to rectilinear motion of button assembly 66 by thumb operation of button 68.

FIG. 7 shown an alternate form for a button assembly and in which button assembly 84 employs a circular cam 86 which includes an enlarged annular slot 88 at one end. The construction is such that cam 86 is inserted on shank 90 and then collar 92 locked on the end of shaft 90. Button 94 is larger in diameter than the width of slot 64 and thus button assembly 84 is held in position while permitting cam 86 to be rotatable on shank 90 and thus enabling cam 86 to freely rotate within groove 65 as button 94 is moved in a straight line above slot 64 to open or close the jaws of the wrench.

Still another manner of providing free rotation of a cam riding in helical groove 65 (smaller in this view) with respect to an actuating button is shown in FIG. 8. As shown cam 98 includes two spaced locking rings 100 and 102. Locking ring 100 is partially enclosed by button 104 to rotatably connect cam 98 to button 104. Locking ring 102 holds cam 98 in position with respect to slot 64 and thereby in engagement with groove 65. Thus in this embodiment, the rotational freedom between cam 98 and button 104 is provided by the freedom of locking ring 100 to be rotatable with respect to button 104. Altemately, locking ring 100 may be simply axially locked to cam 98 and be rotatable about cam 98 by a sleeve, or ball, or roller bearing coupling. In such instances the periphery of locking ring 100 may be either rigidly affixed to button 104 or may be rotatable with respect to button 104. In either instance cam 98 would be free to rotate with respect to button 104.

In operation when a thumb button, such as button 68 is moved from the rearward end of the wrench toward the head 14, helical shaft 40 is rotated clockwise, as viewed through slot 64. This effects counterclockwise rotation of worm gear assembly 26, as viewed from the gear drive end of worm assembly 26. This in turn causes adjustable jaw 29 to move toward fixed jaw 32. Accordingly, movement of button 68 in the opposite direction, that is, away from head 14 produces opposite movement of adjustable jaw 20. Frictional binding of the assembly is eliminated or greatly reduced by permitting cam 72 to rotate with respect to button 68. With this improvement it is believed that the Applicant has made possible manufacture of a spiral or helical groove actuated adjustable wrench which will withstand typical shop usage wherein dirt, grit and various forms of foreign matter would form in the groove without significant deterioration of operation of the wrench over extended periods.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable jaw wrench which includes:

an elongated handle having a projecting fixed jaw and a coordinate moving jaw;

a worm supported by said handle for operating said movable jaw whereby said jaws are relatively moved by rotation of said worm;

a shaft having a helical groove rotatably supported within said handle and rotatably driving said worm upon the rotation of said shaft; and

said handle having an elongated slot extending along a portion of said handle and exposing said helical groove;

an improved actuator assembly comprising;

A. a circular cam of a diameter adapted to freely move within said helical groove; B. a button adapted to be moved along and outside of said elongated slot; and C. shank means including a shank extending through said slot for interconnecting said button and said cam and including means for enabling said cam to rotate relative to said button; whereby said shaft is freely rotated by engagement of said cam which said groove as said button is moved in a rectilinear fashion along said slot.

2. An adjustable jaw wrench as set forth in claim 1 wherein said shank is circular and said cam is adapted to rotate about said shank.

3. An adjustable jaw wrench as set forth in claim 1 wherein said shank means includes means for rotatably coupling said button to said shank.

4. An adjustable jaw wrench as set forth in claim 3 wherein said cam comprises an end of said shank. 

1. An adjustable jaw wrench which includes: an elongated handle having a projecting fixed jaw and a coordinate moving jaw; a worm supported by said handle for operating said movable jaw whereby said jaws are relatively moved by rotation of said worm; a shaft having a helical groove rotatably supported within said handle and rotatably driving said worm upon the rotation of said shaft; and said handle having an elongated slot extending along a portion of said handle and exposing said helical groove; an improved actuator assembly comprising; A. a circular cam of a diameter adapted to freely move within said helical groove; B. a button adapted to be moved along and outside of said elongated slot; and C. shank means including a shank extending through said slot for interconnecting said button and said cam and including means for enabling said cam to rotate relative to said button; whereby said shaft is freely rotated by engagement of said cam which said groove as said button is moved in a rectilinear fashion along said slot.
 2. An adjustable jaw wrench as set forth in claim 1 wherein said shank is circular and said cam is adapted to rotate about said shank.
 3. An adjustable jaw wrench as set forth in claim 1 wherein said shank means includes means for rotatably coupling said button to said shank.
 4. An adjustable jaw wrench as set forth in claim 3 wherein said cam comprises an end of said shank. 